Dear Jane
Congratulations on getting on to the BBC web site this evening. (Click here.)
Commiserations for having to face the flack.
There’s just a little something I’d like to take issue with:-
“The Liberal Democrats seem to be bearing the brunt of the complaints people are making. Some of that is to do with the media coverage we are getting. They are specifically targeting the things that Liberal Democrats have said during the election.”
The Liberal Democrats are “bearing the brunt” for a very good reason.
I was a loyal activist and supporter of the Liberal Democrats for many a long year and, until recently, have always voted that way. I believed that they meant what they said and would do what they promised. I believed quite passionately in their apparent commitment to education, the single most important thing we can do to secure our future.
The abasement of the disreputable U-turn on tuition fees left me gobsmacked and, frankly, feeling utterly betrayed. For Vince Cable to then go on national TV and slither around in such an odious manner just rubbed salt into the wounds.
your party has been found wanting and cannot be trusted
For years I/we sold the party as different and principled – yet, no sooner than a few bums end up on the back seat of a few Ministerial Rovers, principles get sacrificed for the trappings of power and slain on the altar of a referendum on AV. A cheap price given that the Liberal Democrats have now revealed themselves as just as two-faced as the two parties they so long sought to unseat.
There is an old proverb “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
Jane, it is more in sorrow than in anger that I have to tell you that your party, at the first major national test of your convictions, has been found wanting and cannot be trusted. That, and that alone, is more than enough justification for you to be flayed alive by the media.
Trust is easily lost and hard to re-forge. It will be a long, long time before I vote Liberal Democrat again.
Regards